STUDY OF OLFACTORY ALTERATIONS AFTER COVID-19 INFECTION AND ITS CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT

*Manar Salloum, Mostafa Ibrahim and Youssef Youssef

ABSTRACT

Study Title: Study of olfactory alterations after COVID-19 infection and its clinical development. Objective: Evaluating changes in the sense of smell in patients previously infected with Covid-19 with an objective CCCRS test. Materials & Methods: The study included 120 patients who visited the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic at Tishreen University Hospital after a previous infection with Covid-19, and their sense of smell was evaluated after that, during the period between June 2021 and June 2022. After examining the patient, he/she was given a detailed questionnaire about the symptoms of their previous infection with Covid-19 and their medical history. The patient was then subjected to the CCCRS test to evaluate their sense of smell, determine its threshold, and their ability to distinguish different odors. The test should be repeated later after completing a period of six months after active infection with Covid-19 to determine the extent of the clinical development of the sense of smell. Results: We did not notice any significant statistical correlation between the overall test result and the variables: age, patient gender, and smoking, while a significant statistical correlation was found between the overall test result and the presence of olfactory symptoms during a previous active infection with Covid-19, expressed in the questionnaire, and the type of this disorder described. There was no statistically significant correlation between the total test result and fever, cough, sore throat, and headache, while there was a significant correlation between the test result and nasal congestion and runny nose. We also noticed that most of the cases had improved results later after several months by repeating the test. Conclusions: The possibility of adopting the test to determine the olfactory threshold with butanol as an objective, qualitative and important test to study the olfactory threshold in patients and study its clinical development.

Keywords: Covid-19 - hyposmia - anosmia - CCCRS test.